“We are, as a species, addicted to story. Even when the body goes to sleep, the mind stays up all night, telling itself stories.”

– Jonathan Gottschall, The Storytelling Animal

WARNING: SPOILERS TO FOLLOW FOR AN HBO SHOW YOU MAY STILL BE WATCHING!!!

Did you know that if you try really hard, in 13-14 hours you can:

  • Travel thousands of miles, repeatedly
  • Kill three or four armies, some of them zombified
  • Fall deeply in love with your aunt (who you just met)
  • Fool around with said aunt
  • Be terrified by, then awed by, then make friends with, then finally ride a fire-breathing dragon
  • Discover that your aunt is, uh… your aunt
  • Ascend a throne, descend a throne, find out you should have ascended a different throne, and finally just decide to let your hot aunt have it all
  • Kill said aunt, hand her over to said dragon, spend enough time in prison to grow out your beard, and then ride off into the sunset… er, snowset

All in the time it would take you to fly from Washington D.C. to Beijing. Astounding, no? Impossible? Well, yes.

Fact is, you cannot do most of those things, a few of them being due to non-existent creatures, and a couple being due to IT’S YOUR AUNT, but most of them being just COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE TO ACCOMPLISH in the amount of time it would take you to knock out an extra-long work day. But, I may be wrong, I hear a pair of sh/tty storytellers may have a very different opinion on this topic. Maybe I’m still just a little bitter.

If you, like most of the globe, prefer to NOT have your tales fed to you in the manner a stone skips across a lake, you were privy to a far more compelling tale that started last October. A tale scribed by your Denver Nuggets.

Denver didn’t skip any steps in their story this season, telling a compelling and exciting yarn all the way to an ending we only wish had come after two more chapters. The Nuggets were not alone in their tale-telling proficiencies, either, with the season and it’s soon-to-be-conclusion keeping their audience rapt throughout. As a Nuggets/NBA fan, were you not enthralled by:

  • The Nuggets lengthy ride near the top of the Western Conference standings?
  • The emergence of the Toronto Raptors finally making the Finals (let alone leading after last night)?
  • The drama for the Celtics in Boston?
  • The drama for the Lakers in Los Angeles?
  • The quadruple-overtime loss in the playoffs in Portland?
  • Nikola Jokic’s All-Star appearance? Michael Malone’s All-Star appearance?
  • Jamal Murray’s 48-point outburst against those dramatic Celtics?
  • Gary Harris’ return from injury, Paul Millsap’s return to form, Malik Beasley’s emergence, Monte Morris’ emergence, and Mason Plumlee’s three-point shooting?

So many more… The Nets building a fun and engaging team from the ground up (after being the poster children for the opposite methodology), the unexpected dominance of the Bucks, the joy of watching Luka Doncic with the Mavs, or De’Aaron Fox with the Kings. The sheer glee of watching Damian Lillard silence an opponent for the season from what looked like five miles away… story after story after story.

So many stories this season that made the whole thing exciting, delectable, and impossible to look away from. A story in reality that took eight months, a few stars and hundreds of bit players, culminating in an ending that has us all on the edge of our collective seats. Built game by game, layer by layer, and shot by shot.

Not culminated in 14 hours, and no one had to defile, deflower, or destroy their dad’s sister.

That’s how you tell a damned story (paying attention, B & W?).

Stay tuned for the far-more-exciting conclusion.

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